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MAP OF VIRGINIA 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Virginia Department of Agriculture and Immigration 

RICHMOND, VA. 



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VIRGINIA 



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Information 
for the 
Homeseeker 
and Investor 



PTBLISHEn BY THE 

'</ /feTATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE AND IMMIGRATION 

v^ \ 

G. W. KOINER, Cominissioner 



Department of Agricultnre and Immigration 

of the State of Virginia. 

G. W. KOINER, Commissioner. 
STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE AND IMMIGRATION. 



MEMBERS. 


DISTRICT. 


p. O. ADDRESS. 


J. H. C. BEVERLEY. 


First Congressional District . . 


Chance. 


A. 0. MAUCK 


Second Congressional District. 


Norfolk. 


A. R. SCOTT 


Third Congressional District. . 


Richmond. 


T. J. ARVIN 


Fourth Congressional District. 


Double Bridge. 


J. M. BARKER 


Fifth Congressional District . . 


Axton. 


BERKLEY D. ADAMS 


Sixth Congressional District.. 


Red Oak. 


C. W. HEATER 


Seventh Congressional District 


Middletown. 


W. H. EGGBORN 


Eighth Congressional District. 


Eggbornville. 


JAMES R.GOODWIN. 


Ninth Congressional District. . 


Eggleston. 


J. W. CHURCHMAN... 


Tenth Congressional District. . 


Staunton. 


J. M. McBRYDE 


President V. P. I. (^x-officio). . 

tec 


Blacksburg. 



OFFICERS OF THE BOARD. 

President C. W. HEATER Middletown. Va. 

Treasurer G. W. KOINER Richmond, Va. 

Secretary E. B. CHESTERMAN Richmond, Va. 



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^ 2 O'Ol 



VIR GIN I A: 

Ififoj'7?iatio?i for the Homeseeker 



Almost every man born outside the borders of the Old Dominion 
has found occasion to comment on the enthusiasm with which 
Virginians discuss their native State. Indeed, the Virginian 
among strangers is regarded as something more than an enthu- 
siast — he is put down as a rhapsodist. No clime, whatever its 
charms, can divorce him from his native hearth; his thoughts ever 
revert to the State of his birth, and, like the Celestial who prays 
that his ashes may repose in the land of his forefathers, he always 
turns to the Old Dominion when he feels that his days are being 
numbered. 

Regarding the matter from the standpoint of one who has never 
dwelt in Virginia, this home instinct of her i)eople seems almost 
incomprehensible, but the fact finds ready explanation among 
those who have lived in the time-honored Commonwealth. Once 
a householder establishes his hearthstone in the Old Dominion, the 
subtle charm of the State holds him enthralled and adds the 
stranger to the long list of so-called rhapsodists. 

In days agone it has been said that the people of the State 
which claims Washington and Lee as her sons are wont to dwell 
in the past and to drowse their way through life with memories of 
what has been. And, surely, if ever this species of lotus-eating 
were pardonable in any case, it should be in the Virginian, for 
behind him are three centuries of glorious history. 

But the charge of inertia has now grown obsolete; today it 
would fall for want of truth. Time was when it seemed as if 
Virginia had grown inert and supine, but out of this very inertia 
was to be born her salvation. 

Staggering under the wounds inflicted by the war of secession 
— staggering when other less spirited communities would have 
fallen never to rise again — she bravely faced the changed conditions 
and wrought order out of chaos. Surely this was no task for 
rhapsodists. ' 



VIRGINIA 7 

And yet it must be admitted that the Hand which tempers the 
wind for the shorn himlj guided Virginia in these dark days and 
opened her eyes to opportunities within her borders which never 
before liad been rcaU/ced. Mayhap the Old Dominion, even after 
the first hght of her ilUmitable resources had burst on her vision, 
was still slow to see and understand her wealth; but today it is 
fully recognized, and her peo]:)le are rejoicing in her blessings. 

When the quaint little ships Discovery, Susan Constant, and 
Good Speed sailed up James River one sunny April day in the year 
1607, the small company, which had braved the terrors of raging 
seas and the hazards of fate in an unexplored country, looked upon 
low shores covered with flowers of "divers colors" and saw the 
horizon fringed with "goodly trees" in full foliage. The Arcadian 
land, it is said, sent a perfumed breath of its attractions far out to 
ocean long before these pioneers in Anglo-Saxon civilization 
reached the borders of the Old Dominion; but it was perhaps a 
century later before the English saw even dimly the extent of the 
terrestrial treasure they liad discovered. And not until two or three 
decades ago did the world awaken to the fact that Virginia's 
charms were something more than skin deep — that beneath her 
soil lay riches even more desirable than her superb agricultural 
resources. 

The tale, in soothe, is but half told yet, and it is marvelous in 
the telling. Statisticians, it is true, can mathematically demon- 
strate the blessings of the ancient Commonwealth, and this they 
have already done, but the Old Dominion, to be duly appreciated, 
must be seen and known by personal contact. 

It seems as if the Master Hand that created this favored section 
and limned it in undying colors on the map of the universe foresaw 
at the very dawn of things that destiny had writ an inspiring 
history for Virginia — that after her metamorphosis from a wilder- 
ness into a smiling panorama of plantations she was to undergo the 
travail of hideous wars, which in turn were to be succeeded by 
conditions almost Utopian. With all her proud traditions of the 
past the Old Dominion has yet to reach her zenith. The years 
that have been put behind her are the years of a formative period ; 
the decades that are to come will mark the fruition of her hopes. 
Henceforth, industry, as exemplified in a hundred forms, will be 
her gracious helpmeet. And with such support what State can 
fail? Xor must the ^'ir<riniaIl of future vears walk in a narrow 



VIRGINIA 9 

path, for he has many fields of usefulness in which he may expand. 
Never did any country under the sun offer more diversity of 
opportunity or finer chances for the founding of fortunes than 
does this State. 

Geopraphically speaking, the Old Dominion is little short of 
amazing. Within her borders are the immaculate shores of the 
Atlantic, a plenteous Tidewater section, and then a rolling Pied- 
mont country that gradually undulates from green hillocks to blue 
hills, which in turn are succeeded by fertile mountains of no mean 
altitude. The man who feels himself affected in his daily work by 
the surrounding landscape can take his choice of any style of 
scenery. He will find it all in Virginia, provided he does not 
demand that Titanic ruggedness which, though astounding to the 
eye, is the synonym of barrenness and desolation. The landscape 
features of the Old Dominion, in short, may be described as 
"peaceful." And well it should be so, for the old State yields 
her riches readily and gives plenty to those who show industry 
or even a moderate degree of perseverance. Her soil is ever grate- 
ful and her very atmosphere invigorating. No feature of this 
venerable "Mother of Presidents" is harsh — neither her scenery, 
her climate, her laws, nor her children. This doubtless is what 
makes Virginians love her. Those whose forbears have lived 
within the limits of the Commonwealth know that she is a gentle, 
kindly mother, and this responsiveness and gratitude of her sons 
is necessarily innate. But for the stranger, Virginia has the same 
welcome which has been accorded those who claim her as the 
place of their nativity. "Benevolent assimilation" might well be 
adopted as her motto. 

When one recalls the history of Virginia, it soon appears that the 
present conditions existing in the State show a wide departure 
from the original plans of those who felled her virgin forests and 
pushed the red man aside for the people of today. The colonists 
to whom we owe our existence were prompted by not altogether 
unselfish motives in founding an English settlement at Jamestown. 
Their prime object — or rather that of those who financed the 
movement — was the discovery of gold. For some fantastic reason 
it was believed that Virginia would prove an El Dorado, and many 
were the months — if not years — wasted by the pioneers in vainly 
seeking 'for the yellow metal. True, gold in recent j^ears has 
been discovered in the State and even now is mined in no incon- 



VIRGINIA 11 

yidcrabli' (iiiautitics, but it is not to this met :il t hat tli('()l(l Domin- 
ion owes her prestige. 

After the EngHsh abandoned this senseless occupation, the 
whilom argonauts drifted into the cultivation of tobacco, and for 
decades, this was their chief occui)ation. This crop, which even 
today is one of the staples of the Commonwealth, had a far-reach- 
ing elTect upon the economic conditions of the State. The colonists 
in cultivating their tobacco, found that the plant constantly re- 
quired new soil, and, as a consequence, they pushed farther and 
farther into the wilderness from Jamestown. This policy soon 
prevented centralization of population and rapidly began to make 
Virginia a State of huge plantations and comparatively small 
settlements. The conditions in New England were just the 
opposite. 

For nearly two centuries the same process of territorial expansion 
went on in the Old Dominion, and today its farm lands reach from 
the ocean to the high hills on her western borders, while no vast 
cities have been created to menace her peace and draw away her 
rural population from the fields. But although Virginia tobacco 
still has a world-wide fame — a name to conjure with — the aromatic 
"weed" no longer is King in the old Commonwealth. Farmers 
long since have discovered that the sod of the Old Dominion, aided 
by a delightful cilmate, is a willing producer of scores of profitable 
crops which w'ould sustain the people luxuriously even though 
there were no such blessed thing as tobacco. 

Indeed, scores of new industries have come to the front in recent 
years, and though the tobacco planter still w^orks his stately 
fields, he finds thousands of Virginians who never give this fasci- 
nating crop a thought. In some sections the fruit-raising industry 
has a monopoly and the products of its heavily-laden orchards are 
gaining a degree of celebrity which is transoceanic. Albemarle 
apples, in fact, are said to have daily graced the tables of the late 
Queen Victoria, while the State's vineyards are producing wines 
which lack nothing to put them in competition with those of France 
and Germany. 

Although farming in the Old Dominion was never so profitable 
as now, and although the early tendencies of the colony indicated 
that Virginia could never be aught but an agricultural State, in- 
vestigations of recent years have proved almost the opposite. The 
State is as rich in minerals as she is in her vegetable products. 



VIRGINIA 13 

It is little short of astonishing to note the variety of licr minerals 
and the richness of the veins in which they lie. 

The southwestern part of the State, wherein are located most of 
the mines today, fairly hums with machinery, and year by year, 
as the railroads extend their branches, this favored section is in- 
creasing in jirosperity and wealth. There are many who predict 
that this part of Virginia is destined to lead all the State; but the 
past has shown that it is not safe to prophesy about the Old 
Dominion. Nor could one persuade a fox-hunting Virginian from 
Tidewater that his environments had lost one whit of their charms, 
while tho.se in the rolling Piedmont region would be equally as 
stubborn in making concessions. The truth is that Virginia's post 
helium renaissance has meant improvement in every direction — 
|iractical results that would have seemed incredible to our fore- 
fathers or even to the good people of fifty years ago. 

This state of affairs, however, is not attributable alone to native 
\'irginians. Much of it is owing to those from other states and 
countries who have settled here. Millions in wealth have poured 
into Virginia since the surrender at Appomattox, and every day 
sees new families in the Old Dominion. The welcome for all of 
these is warm. It could not be otherwise, for the hospitality of the 
Virginian is innate — a precious legacy of picturesque ancestors, 
who.se isolation made them rejoice at the very sight of a new-comer. 
Fortunately, however, the charms of the State have drawn hither 
only the most desirable classes — people whose presence would 
strengthen any community. The Commonwealth has been spared 
the heterogeneous hordes that invade many other States. 

While, as has been explained the cultivation of various crops 
in early times at once marked Virginia out for an agricultural 
State with widely separated towns and villages, her cities recently 
have gone forward with tremendous strides and are rapidly taking 
first place in the galaxy of American municipalities. The capital 
of the Commonwealth — Richmond — is a town which could never 
lose her individuality, her stability, or her charm. Her history 
alone would perpetuate her, but today she stands strong and serene 
on her seven hills like the Eternal City and presents a curious com- 
posite picture of culture, thrift, progressiveness and quaint adher- 
ence to old traditions and customs. No degree of prosperity and no 
influx of wealth could make Richmond abandon some of her social 
ideas, nor would she surrender the pride in her past for all the 




GOVERNOR CLAUDE A. SWANSON OF VIRGINIA. 



VIRGINIA 15 

riches of Golcoiida; but she has profited by observation none 
the less. From her people have emanated practical ideas and prac- 
tical suggestions, which have attracted attention everywhere. 
Her lessons have been learnt at no little sacrifice; having been 
learned, they have been productive of splended results. 

And nothing less should be said of the other cities in the Common- 
wealth. Some of these are well-nigh as venerable as Richmond, 
while others, equally as thrifty and almost as well populated, 
have sprung up almost in a night as the result of new industries 
never dreamed of five decades ago. The time-honored Common- 
wealth, indeed, now walks with quickened step despite the lapse of 
nearly three centuries. Her elasticity is the child of prosperity. 
A magnificent exposition to mark her tercentenary will show to the 
world in 1907 what Virginia has been, is now, and what she will 
be in centuries to come. This grand enterprise means much for 
the Old Dominion, but after all it will only be a colossal tableau 
vivant, whose details are already known to all those who have lived 
in Mrginia. Strangers, however, will be amazed by what they 
behold. 

But enough — another Virginian may be accused of rhapsodizing, 
for these lines are penned by way of preface. Were they to appear 
in this volume as an after- word — a word following the detailed 
account of ^'irginia's charms and resources — the most unrespon- 
sive would say that their apparent hyperbole is more than justified. 
And could the alien who reads this book visit Virginia, he would 
admit that no rhetoric describing the Old Dominion can be much 
too fervid or too florid. 

WHAT THE GOVKRNOR OF VIRGINIA SAYS. 

The following extract from Governor Claude A. Swanson's in- 
augural address delivered before the Legislature February 1, 1906, 
presents, in brief, an excellent review of the climate and soil and 
the agricultural, mineral and commercial resources of the State: 

"There is a Virginia of the past resplendent with the heroic 
achievments of a great and glorious people; there is a Virginia 
of the present crowned with possibilities that can surpass the 
splendors of the proud past and make all that has gone before in 
her history but the prelude to a greater de.stiny. 

" No State in this Union has richer or more varied resources than 
Virginia. Her mild, warm, equable climate furnishes a refuge 
alike to those scorched by the suns of the South or chilled by the 



VIRGINIA 17 

winds of the Xortli. There is not an agricultunil product iviiown 
to the tenii)erato zone that cannot he j)r(>fitahly, and is not suc- 
cessfully, raised in \'irginia. In extreme Southside X'irginia are 
seen great white fields of cotton, as rich in beauty and luxuriant in 
growth as can be found in North Carolina or (Jleorgia. In Pied- 
mont and Southern \'irginia are produced the great crojis of tobacco 
which largely contribute to the world's supply. The magnifieent 
Valley of Virginia, raising great crops of wheat, corn, oats and hay, 
is almost unspeakable in her prodigality of production. The 
beautiful hilltops and mountains of Southwest and Northern 
Virginia, with their spontaneous and perennial growth of blue 
grass, have browsing on them herds of cattle and sheep. This 
lovely section, with its witchery of scenery, salubriousness of 
climate, rich return for investments, forms a combination rarely 
seen and unsurj)assed by any section of this Union. In Eastern 
and Tidewater Virginia we have large truck farms and gardens, 
which furnish the vast population of the Eastern cities with their 
vegetables and foods. The profits of this industry are already 
immense, but the industry is still in its infancy and its possibilities 
for the future are immeasin-able. Nowhere can fruit grow to 
greater perfection than in \'irginia, and her great crops of apples, 
peaches and grapes are bringing her immense returns and have 
brighter promises for the future. There is not a farm product 
known to the temperate zone that cannot be raised in the varied 
soil, climate and conditions of Virginia. Every where in the State 
are seen evidences of intelligent and scientific farming, of progress 
and prosperity. The increase in farm products and values in 
recent years has been striking and excelled by few States in the 
Union. We have jiroduced this immense agricultural wealth, 
and yet not more than half our land is under cultivation. When 
the population of Virginia, which is each year rapidly increasing, 
.shall put under cultivation the entire soil, the farming wealth of 
the State will be amazing. With near and accessible markets, no 
State offers finer opportunities or greater inducements to farmers 
than Virginia. 

"coal and okes. 

"But, great as are our advantages in agriculture, our superiority 
in other directions is still more pre-eminent. There is scarcely a 
useful mineral kncnvn to modern civilization that is not found and 



VIRGINIA 19 

cannot be successfully mined in Virp;inia. We have zinc, copper, 
iron and coal mines all in profitable ojjcration. We have demon- 
strated that iron can be jiroduced here as cheaply as elsewhere 
and the products of our furnaces are distributed to all parts of 
the world. Coal is the foundation of the marvelous industrial 
advance of this century. Upon it Great Britain built her naval, 
commercial and manufacturing supremacy. Already in Mrginia 
and the eastern part of West Virginia, which, from its location, 
must be used and developed through Virginia, have been disclosed 
almost as many square miles of coal, and of superior quality, as 
that upon which Great Britain established her great pre-eminence. 
The imagination cannot picture the vast manufactures, the varied 
industrial enterprises which the possession of this vast supply of 
coal will bring to Virginia. Besides, the rivers that run from 
our mountains to the seashore, the Potomac, Shenandoah, Rappa- 
hannock, Appomattox, James and others, are possessed of immense 
water power, capable of operating large and innumerable estab- 
lishments. 

"In Chesapeake Bay, which skirts our Eastern Siiore, we have 
the finest and safest harbors on the Atlantic coast. This bay is the 
finest body of inland water in the world, and u])on its smooth sur- 
face could ride almost the world's fleets and navies. There mag- 
nificent harbors offer opjjortunities for greater mercantile and com- 
mercial enterprises, world-wide in their trade and scope. The 
great increase in our exports and foreign commerce give proof of 
the future greatness of these parts. The nearness and cheapness of 
coal to these harbors furnish the best location on this continent 
for manufacturing industries with products to be distributed in the 
markets of the world." 
The Manufacturers' Record of December 21, 1905, says: 
"While it is true that the industrial develo]»ment of the South 
is going forward with amazing rapidity, it is nevertheless true that, 
by virtue of the extent of the agricultural interests of the South, 
agriculture is yet the foundation of the business of that section. 
A change from povert}' to prosperity of the farmers, and a change 
from land without a selling value to land in demand at an advance 
of 50 to 150 ))er cent, over the nominal price of one or two j^ears ago, 
is the most far-reaching develoj)mcnt in Southern advancement of 
the last quarter of a century. It is far-reaching in many ways. It 
means that within the last year or two Soiithern farm properties 



Virginia 21 

have increased not less than $1,000,000,000 in value, probably at 
least SI, 500,000,000. 

"The realization by the people of the entire South, bankers, 
merchants and farmers, of the power of co-operation in the proper 
handling and marketing of the two great staples — cotton and 
tobacco — has brought about a comnumity of interest which is 
destined to exert a very great influence upon the entire business 
interests of the South and of that portion of the business world 
which is in any way dependent upon these staples or upon the 
general prosperity of the South." 

The ^'irginia people set such esteem upon the agricultural inter- 
ests of the State, and the promotion of the various departments of 
its agricultural industries, that they have incorporated in their 
constitution, their organic law, a department of agriculture and 
inunigration to be under the- management and control of a bureau 
of agriculture. This publication is made by the Commissioner of 
Agriculture in accordance with the requirements of an act of 
Assembly. 

It is the object of this hand-book to present the agricultural and 
industrial features of the State, together with its climatic and 
topograi)hical advantages, in such a way as to show that the State 
of Virginia, old in its history and hoary in its traditions, is exhibit- 
ing a new life of activity and enterprise and, turning her back upon 
the past, is setting her face towards the rising sun whose advent is 
gilding the East with a golden splendor. 

A free use has been made of the antecedent text-books, and their 
descriptions, statements, and statistics have been availed of in the 
preparation of this manual. "I take all knowledge for my pro- 
vince," said Lord Bacon. In that spirit the author of this hand- 
book has appropriated whatever seemed of practical value wher- 
ever found. 

GENERAL DESCRIPTION 

No State in the Union offers more attractive inducements, and 
extends a more inviting hand, to the home-seeker than Virginia. 
In climate, diversity of soils, fruits, forests, water supply, mineral 
deposits, and variety of landscape, including mountain and valley, 
hill and dale, she offers advantages that are unsurpassed. Truly 
did Captain John Smith, the adventurous and dauntless father of 
\'irginia, suggest that "Heaven and earth never agreed better to 
frame a place for man's habitation." 



VIRGINIA 23 

Virginia is centrally situated in the Atlantic tier of States, being 
midway between Maine and Floritla. It lies between the extremes 
of heat and cold, removed alike from the sultry, protracted sum- 
mers of the more southern states, and the severe winters and devas- 
tating storm and cyclones of the north and northwest. Its limits 
north and south are the latitudes of 39° 27' and 36** 31', correspond- 
ing to California and Southern pAirope. The area of the State is 
42.450 square miles, of which 2,325 are covered with water. There 
are 40,125 square miles, or 25,680,000 acres, of land. The State 
is a little larger than Tennessee, Kentucky, or Ohio, and not quite 
530 large as Pennsylvania. The extreme length of the State along 
its southern border is 440 miles. The extreme width from north 
to south is 102 miles. 

NATURAL DIVISIONS 

N'irglnia is divitled into five natural divisions, consisting of belts 
of country extending across the State from northeast to southwest, 
antl succeeding each other from the Atlantic coast to the western 
State line. They rise in successive steps from the sea level, and 
differ in natural scenery, climate, soil and productions. These 
natural divisions are known as Tidewater, Middle Virginia, the 
Piedmont, the ^^alle)^ and Appalachia. 

The Tidewater, or coastal plain, is part of the lowland that skirts 
the seashore from New York to the Gulf of Mexico. The visible 
outer or eastern boundary of Tidewater is the coast line of the 
State; but in reality it continues seaward many miles, forming a 
great submarine terrace, or shelf. Its inland or western boundary 
is a line extending from Widewater on the Potomac river below 
Alexandria, through Fredericksburg, Richmond, Petersburg, Em- 
poria in Greensville county, to the North Carolina line. This west- 
ern boundary, though somewhat irregular, does not vary nuich 
from a straight line. The Tidewater section is penetrated by four 
navigable rivers that cut deep channels, with alluvial bottoms of 
rare fertility, and inland ports for ocean steamers. 

Middle Virgiiiin is a wide, undulating j^lain extending from the 
western boundary of Tidewater to the Piedmont belt. It is the 
largest of the five natural divisions, and comprises more than one- 
fourth of the State. 

The Piedmont Region, as the name implies, lies along the foot of 
the mountains, and forms the base of the Blue Ridge, varying in 



VIRGINIA 25 

width from twenty to thirty miles. It is a portion of the belt that 
begins in New F.ngland and strotchos thence soutinvard to Georgia 
and Alabama. It extends, therefore, across the State from Mary- 
land to North Carolina. 

The Valley of Virginia is the belt of rolling country lying between 
the Blue Ridge on the east, and the broken ranges, known collec- 
tively as the Alieghanies, on the west. Its length is over three hun- 
dred miles, and its average width about twenty. It is the most 
productive and picturesque portion of the great limestone valley 
that stretches from Canada to Alabama. Though one continuous 
valley, it is subdivided into many minor ones by detached ranges 
and the troughs of five rivers that penetrate it. It is very fertile, 
producing grasses and grain in abundance, and is often spoken of 
as the "Garden Spot of the State." 

The Appalachian region is the most western section of the State, 
consisting of twelve rugged counties, traversed by the Alieghanies 
proper, and their numerous spurs and minor ranges, being a por- 
tion of the Appalachian system of mountains. These ranges 
inclose long trough-like valleys that are admirably adapted to graz- 
ing, as are also the sides and slopes of the mountains. 

Comprehensively .stated, the above are the five grand divisions of 
the State according to its natural conformation. There are other 
and smaller subdivisions which bear names that have a local signi- 
fication. These are the Eastern Shore, consisting of the counties 
of Accomac and Northampton that compose the southern termi- 
nation of the fruitful peninsula which separates Chesapeake Bay 
from the Atlantic ocean; the Northern Neck, a long and narrow 
strip, lying between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers; the 
Peninsula, distinctly so called to discriminate it from the other 
and smaller necks of land formed by many of the rivers and estua- 
ries of the Tidewater section: this Peninsula lies between the York 
and James rivers; the Sauthside, composed of the counties east 
of the Blue Ridge and between James river and the southern bor- 
der of the State; and Blue Ridge, consisting of the three pictur- 
esque counties of Floyd, Carroll, and Grayson, with an area of 
1,230 square miles, forming part of the elevated plateau into which 
the Blue Ridge chain or system expands in the southwestern por- 
tion of the State, 





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VIRGINIA 27 



MORE PARTICULAR DESCRIPTION 

A somewhat more particular description of these natural divis- 
ions of the State, their topographical features, productions and 
resources, water-ways and climate, may be of interest. 

Tidewater Virginia or the Coastal Plain, as it is sometimes 
called, comprises approximately one-fourth of the State. It 
receives the name Tidewater from the fact that the streams that 
penetrate it feel the ebb and flow of the tides from the ocean up to 
the head of navigation on the line that separates it from Middle 
N'irginia. It consists altogether of lowlands, having an average 
altitude of about 150 feet along its inner or western border (the 
line that separates it from Middle Virginia) and inclining sea- 
ward until, at the coastline, it dips beneath the Atlantic. It con- 
sists chiefly of broad and generally level plains, while a considera- 
ble portion, nearest to the bay, is occupied by shallow ba3's and 
estuaries, and b}' marshes that are in most instances reached by 
the ocean tides. These marshes abound with wild duck and sora. 
Tidewater is mainly an alluvial country. The soil is chiefly light, 
sandy loam, underlaid with clay. The alluvial deposits are enrich- 
ed by the decomposition of shells, forming extensive beds of marl. 
Its principal productions are fruits and early vegetables, w^hich 
are raised in extensive ''market gardens," and shipped in large 
ciuantities to northern cities. This is called "trucking," and is a 
lucrative business. The trade in potatoes, strawberries, peanuts, 
etc., is especially large, and last year yielded altogether in the State 
some $12,000,000. The fertilizing minerals — gypsum, marl and 
greensand — abound, and their judicious use readily restores the 
lands w'hen exhausted by improvident cultivation. 

Middle Virginia is a wide undulating plain, crossed by many 
many rivers that have cut their channels to a considerable depth, 
and are bordered by alluvial bottom lands that are very produc- 
tive. The soil consists of clays with a subsoil of disintegrated sand- 
stone rocks that supply additional elements of fertility. The soil of 
Virginia varies according to the nature of the rpck from which it is 
formed. The lowlands of Tidewater are marked by light, sandy 
loam with substratum of clay, enriched by the decomposition of 
shells, forming marl banks, or beds. In Middle and Piedmont 
Virginia the surface, in general, consists of clay, with subsoil of 
disintegrated sandstone rocks. In the \'alley and Appalachia, 



VIRGINIA 29 

limestone soil predominates. This section (Middle Virginia) has 
for its eastern border the rocky rim of Tidewater, where the average 
elevation above the ocean is about 150 feet. It gradually rises 
towards its western limit at Piedmont, where it attains a maximum 
elevation of 500 feet. This is the largest of the natural divisions, 
and contains some 12,500 square miles. Nowhere on the conti- 
nent can there be found a region so generally penetrated by navi- 
gable streams. Four large rivers, having their sources in the Pied- 
mont and Appalachian region, traverse the Tidewater and Middle 
Virginia sections. The Potomac below Washington, the Rappa- 
hannock below Fredericksburg, the York, and the James below 
Richmond, rise and fall with the ocean tides, and are navigable 
from Chesapeake Bay. Below the tidewater line (or head of navi- 
gation) they broaden, and are sometimes miles in width. 

The principal agricultural productions of j\Iiddle Virginia are 
corn, wheat, oats and tobacco. The tobacco raised in this section 
and in Piedmont, known as the "Virginia Leaf," is the best grown 
in the United States, and has a world-wide reputation for excellence. 
In this section, as in Tidewater, the low, bottom lands along the 
streams formed by the sediment of the waters, are exceptionally 
productive. The second bottoms, as they are called, being a more 
elevated terrace, have usually a subsoil of dark, but sometimes 
yellow clay; these are very rich and susceptible of constant and 
severe tillage. 

THE PIEDMONT SECTION 

This belt (for it is properly a belt, extending as it does through 
the State, with a length of 250 miles and an average width of only 
25 miles) is marked by hills and minor mountain ranges and spurs, 
with valleys of varied form between. The surface is diversified 
and surpassingly picturesque. The line of separation from Mid- 
dle Virginia contains wide plains of excellent fertility, which spon- 
taneously cover themselves with nutritious grasses when not in 
cultivation. The elevation of this belt varies from 300 to 1,200 
feet. The soil is heavier than that of INIiddle Virginia, the subsoil 
being of stiff and dark-red clay. The disintegrated sandstone 
rocks supply elements of fertility. On the slopes of the Blue Ridge 
grapes of delicious flavor grow luxuriantly. These produce excel- 
lent wines, and the clarets have a wide fame. The pippin apples 
of the section are of unrivalled excellence. 



VIRGINIA 31 



THE VALLEY 

The "Great Viille\'," as it is descriptively called, is, in its general 
configuration, one continuous valley, included between the two 
mountain chains that extend throughout the State; but it more 
in a ])articular sense, made up of five smaller valleys that succeed 
one another in the following order, from northeast to southwest: the 
Shenandoah Valley; the James River Valley; the Roanoke River 
\''alley; the Kanawha or New River Valley; and the Valley of the 
Houston or Tennessee. It is 242 feet above tidewater at Harper's 
Ferry where the Shenandoah, uniting with the Potomac, breaks 
through the barrier of the Blue Ridge, and gradually rises until it 
attains the height of 1,687 feet at its southwestern extremity, 
where the waters of the Holston leave the State and pass into 
Tennessee. The Valley is much higher along its western side, next 
to the Alleghanies, than on its eastern side. It is one of the most 
abundantly watered regions on the face of the globe. Deep lime- 
stone beds form the floor of the Great Valley, and from these beds 
the soil derives an exceeding fertility, peculiarly adapted to the 
growth of grasses and grain. One who enjoys its varied and pic- 
turesquely beautiful landscapes; the long undulating line of the 
ridge that takes the name of Blue from the heavens that bend to 
bathe its summits in their own soft tints; its abundant crops of 
cereals; its cattle grazing upon its grass-embedded meadows; its 
orchards bearing every fruit known to the temperate zone, and its 
vineyards bursting with the juices that produce delicious wines, 
will not wonder that it bears the name of the "garden spot" of the 
State. 

APPALACHIA 

This is the mountainous section to the west of the Great Valley, 
It overlooks the \'alley to the east, and passes into the rugged 
upland of the Cumberland plateau on the west. Its altitude varies 
from 1,000 to 3,000 feet above the sea level. Some of the valley 
and slopes are of sandstone, some of slates and shales, some of 
limestone, so that they present a great variety of surface. The 
sandstone ridges are poor and unproductive, but the valleys are 
fertile, the soil being enriched by limestone. These valleys and 
mountain slopes are heavily carpeted with grass, upon which large 
numbers of cattle are raised. It is noted as a grazing country. 



Virginia 33 

It is an abundantly watered region, and its mountains are covered, 
their tops and thoir sides, with forests that yield a variety of val- 
uable timber. 

FAVORABLE CONDITIONS 

The advantages and favorable conditions that invite the home- 
seeker may, in general terms, be included under the following 
heads:- (1) Situation and Topography, (2) Climate, (3) Agricul- 
tural Resources, (4) Rivers and Water Supply, (5) Forests, (6) 
Fruits, (7) Minerals and Mining, (8) Commercial Facilities. In 
the.se .several inducements Virginia holds a place second to no 
State in the L'nion; probably the pre-eminent place over them all. 

Let us briefly consider these inducements in the order named. 

SITUATION 

As heretofore stated, Virginia is midway of the Atlantic tier of 
States, removed alike from the severe winters of the Northern 
States, and the long, debilitating summers of the States farther 
south. She po.ssesses every variety of surface: bold mountains, 
broken uplands, valleys, meadows, lowlands, and the swamp lands 
of the coastal plain. The two ranges of mountains that extend 
through the State from northeast to southwest protect it from the 
storms and tornadoes that devastate the northwest. At Hampton 
Roads, she has the largest, deepest, safest and best sheltered har- 
bor on the Atlantic. Her ports of Norfolk and Newport News 
are nearer than is New York to the great centres of population and 
areas of production, of the northwest. Chicago is fifty miles nearer 
by direct line to Norfolk than it is to New York. 

CLIMATE 

The climate of Virginia is mild and healthful. The winters are 
less severe than in the northern and northwestern States, or even 
the western localities of the same latitude; while the occasional 
periods of extreme heat in the summer are not more oppressive 
than in many portions of the north. The diversified physical 
features exercise a marked influence on the climate, the tempera- 
ture varying in the several sections according to their elevation, 
latitude, and distance from the ocean. The variation is from a 
mean annual temperature of 64° in the low Tidewater belt to 48° 
in the elevated mountain regions. The average temperature of 
the State is 56°. The summer heat of the Tidewater is tempered 
by the sea-breezes; while in the mountain section the warm south- 



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VIRGINIA 35 

west trade winds, blowing through the long parallel valleys, impart 
to them, and the enclosing mountains, moisture borne from the 
Gulf of Mexico. As a place to live in all the year round, Virginia 
has no equal. The summers are not debilitating, and the occa- 
sional days of oppressive heat are succeeded by nights of refreshing 
sleep. The winters are never marked by extreme or protracted 
severity. Snow rarely covers the ground for any great length of 
time, and the number of bright, sunny days, even in the winter 
season, is unusually large. In the spring the bright sunshine, 
pleasant days and budding nature invite every one out of doors, 
and hook.s and reel are in demand. Autumn, to many, is the most 
delightful time of the year. The bright, warm, sunny days, with 
just enough edge to the air to make one feel like moving, the cool 
nights unsurpassed for sleeping, the rich and varied colored wild 
flowers and the many colored autumn leaves, all conspire to make 
one stay out of doors and absorb health and life. Partridge and 
pheasant shooting, and fox hunting in the glorious autumn weather 
furnish the finest sport for the most exacting sportsman. 

The number of murky, foggy days is very small, and converse!}^ 
the number of sunny days is unusually large. The United States 
Weather Bureau gives as the number of fair and clear days for 
Hampton Roads 258.8, while for Boston 237.6. Thus the num- 
ber of days when one is kept in doors on account of the weather is 
very small. 

In the more western i)ortion of the State the temperature is 
lower generally, and in the southwest mountains the snow some- 
times lies on the ground for a considerable time, but the healthful- 
ness of this region is most excellent, and the size and physique of 
the men is superb. 

Along the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge there is a belt of coun- 
try between 1,000 and 2,500 feet above sea level, in which the 
humidity is exceedingly low, and in which the number of sunny 
days is very large. This region has little dew at night, owing to its 
low humidit}^ and has been found beneficial for consumptives and 
those troubled with pulmonary diseases. 

Virginia is also exceptionally free from wind storms and hurri- 
canes, never having any like those which frequent the western 
plains and the States of the southwest. Such a thing as a dwelling 
house being blown over is a practically unknown occurrence. 



VIRGINIA 37 

Below is the mean monthly temperature of Virginia, Fahren- 
heit, for the last five years taken in July and December by the 
U. S. Weather Bureau of Richmond: 

Mean monthly temperature July Dec. 

1901 78.6 35.7 

1902 76.5 37.9 

1903 75.5 32.8 

1904 73.5 34.4 

1905 75.4 37.7 

The westerly winds are the prevailing winds. 

The annual rainfall is from forty to sixty inches. It is fairly 
well distributetl through the entire )'ear. 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES 

Although Virginia has very large, varied and important inter- 
ests outside of agriculture, still agriculture has been, and is, her 
greatest and most important interest, and is the occupation of the 
great majority of her people. She is essentially an agricultural 
State. The principal agricultural products are tobacco, corn, 
wheat, oats, buckwheat, barley and the native and cultivated 
grasses, which, together with the clovers, yield an abundance of 
hay. In the seaboard section, particularly in the vicinity of Nor- 
folk and on the Eastern Shore, there are extensive areas devoted 
to truck-farming, an industry which annually sends millions of 
dollars worth of garden and farm vegetables and products to the 
markets of Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. In 
this same section, especially in the counties that form the south- 
eastern portion of the State, between the James River and the 
North Carolina line, the cultivation of the peanut is an extensive 
and profitable industry, the annual value of the crop being about 
two and a half million dollars. Virginia raises more, and better, 
peanuts than any State in the Union. The cereals are wide- 
spread over the State, but the Valley is pre-eminently the grain- 
producing region. Tobacco is, in a very large part of the State, 
the staple principally relied on as a money-making crop. Only one 
State in the Union, Kentucky, produces more tobacco than Vir- 
ginia. The "Virginia Leaf," the finest tobacco raised in the 
United States, has a world-wide reputation for excellence. It 
thrives best in the uplands of Middle Virginia and in the Piedmont. 
In Halifax, Pittsylvania, and Henry counties, bordering on the 



VIRGINIA 39 

North Carolina line, midway of the iState and in smaller areas of 
rontiguous counties, the famous "bright tobacco" is raised. This 
always commands a high ])rice. 

There is every conceivable variety of soil in \'irginia, from the 
almost pure sand of the sea coast to the stiff clay of the western 
portions. Although of such variety, there is one noteworthy fact, 
and that is the ease with which nearly all of the soil can be culti- 
vated, and its ready response to judicious treatment. 

Owing to the great difference of altitude of the various parts of 
the State, giving rise to a great diversity of climate conditions, and 
to the almost endless variety of soils within her borders, Virginia 
can, and does, grow practically everything raised in the United 
States except the tropical and sub-tropical fruits. If there is any- 
one, anywhere, who desires to take up any special branch of agri- 
culture or desires to devote his time to the raising of any variety 
of cereal, grass, legumes, fruit or animal, he can find in Virginia 
land and conditions ideally suitable to that identical thing. 

Under the head of agricultural resources we might appropriately 
treat fruits. But they will be assigned to a separate head. 

NORTHERN AND WESTERN FARMERS IN VIRGINIA 

The following letters from a few northern and western farmers 
who have settled in Virginia, selected from a number of other sim- 
ilar communications, and one from Hon. J. Stirling Morton, Ex- 
U. S. Secretary of Agriculture, will be found interesting to home- 
seekers: 

By J. Sterling Morton, 
Secretanj of Agriculture. 

The New York Sun says: "J. Sterling Morton, Secretary of 
Agriculture, has discovered that the late Horace Greeley's advice 
to young men, to 'Go West,' is no longer sound, and, that owing 
to changed conditions in the South, the well-wishers of Young 
America should now urge them to go to Mrginia. 

"Were I young and about to buy a farm — and if I were young, 
buying a farm is exactly what Ud go first about — I'd get a farm 
in Virginia. I was out through the State the other day. To say 
that I was amazed would not any more than express it. 1 was 
fairly astonished. 1 never saw better fields or finer crops any 
where. It's a garden. One has, as some fellow said about some 
other locality, but to tickle the soil and it laughs with a harvest. 



40 



VIRGINIA 



Corn? I met face to face with as vigorous and robust fields as ever 
waved in Illinois. Other crops were the same. 

" As a mere crop producer, the Virginia farm would stand shoulder 
to shoulder with any in the West, and yet, while you buy a farm 
of 160 acres in Texas, say, for $8,800.00, I'll take the same $8,800.- 
00 and buy and locate myself in Virginia, within three hours' drive 
of the capital of the country, on a fraction over five hundred and 
eighty-six acres. Just as good land, as I told you before, only 
instead of one hundred and sixty acres, you get five hundred and 
eight v-six acres for $8,800. 




^^ismsmicMmeii^m 



PEACHES. 

"Yes, I said I could cite farms and figures to support what I 
suggest. I am not an advertising medium for any particular piece 
of Virginia real estate, but, skipping names and boundary lines, 
there are 800 acres, twenty-six miles from Washington, with the 
Potomac River washing its feet, covered with forest trees, and 
you can buy it for fifteen dollars an acre, just $12,000. A friend 
of mine bought a splendid farm of one hundred and sixty acres- 
richest kind of soil; magnificent brick house, one of those old, 
timers, about one hundred years old, but in perfect shape as if 
carpenters and masons got through ^^esterday. What do you 
think he paid? Perfectly appointed farm, remember; brick barn, 



VIRGINIA 41 

all in the best of shape, and within half a day's drive, with the 
buggy, of Washington. Now, what do you think he gave? Four 
thousand dollars; just twenty-five dollars an acre. The place 
would have been worth $16,000 or $20,000 in Iowa. It made me 
want a Virginia farm myself when T saw it." 

J. Stkrling Morton. 
Ex-Secretary Agriculture United States. 
FROM SOUTH DAKOTA. 

I came to Prince George County in 1902, from Spink County 
S. D.. where I resided since 1881. After spending a number of 
years traveling about, visiting nearly all the States east of the 
Mississippi, in search of a genial climate and good soil, I was con- 
vinced that Virginia was the place. I purchased a farm of 400 
acres and am now getting it in a very fine state of cultivation for 
all the cereals and stock raising. This section is exceedingly well 
adapted to the raising of cattle, hogs and sheep, all of which I am 
raising successfully and making money. 

There is nothing would induce me to go back to South Dakota to 
live, since I am able to live here in comfort and receive larger net 
dividends than I ever could expect to realize on my former farm. 
I am more than pleased with my investment. 

Yours very truly 
(Signed) Wm. H. Denton. 

FROM CALIFORNIA. 

I moved to Virginia with my family six years ago from California, 
where we were very much disappointed in the climate, the heavy 
fogs of the coast causing rheumatic troubles and tlie intense heat 
of the inland valleys in the summer we could not stand. 

Have visited nearly every State, and can honestly say I know 
of no climate as equable and pleasant where the water is so soft 
and pure, where the soil responds so quickly and abundantly to 
proper cultivation and encouragement, and where there is abso- 
lutely no malaria or mosquitos. 

Our winter lasts about three months. Have plowed at times in 
all winter mpnths. Our garden soil was never frozen over 3 inches 
at anv time. 

Dr. J. B. Ross. 
Bedford City, Va. 
FROM ILLINOIS. 

I came to this State several years since and purchased a farm 
near Forest Depot, paying $14 per acre for the same. I did not 



VIRGINIA 43 

expect to make more than a fair living for several years, but from 
the very first season I made much more than I anticipated. 1 
produce all kinds of cereals, stock, and small fruits, and trucking, 
all of which has a home market at much better prices than I could 
hope to receive in the West. 

I am raising more and better crops than I could produce on $40 
land in South Dakota or $100 land in Illinois. I cheerfully send 
this word of greeting to Northern farmers who are in search of a 
better climate, good land at low prices and where the seasons are 
of suflficient length to garner the crop without being in haste all 
the time. T. J. Ong, 

Forest Depot, Va. 
FROM INDIANA. 

I came to \'irginia broken down in health and bought a broken 
down farm about six miles from Lynchburg, which had not been 
worked since the war, thirty-six years previous. I was very 
unwell and could not do much work at first, but, notwithstanding 
that, I made a fairly good crop and sold off a quantity of bark and 
wood, and made more than I would have done at home. There is 
a ready and good market for all you can raise, and the prices are 
good. The people are glad to see you and aid you in every way 
in their power. There are good schools and churches, 'and I have 
never received more attention or been better entertained than I 
have been by some of the old ex-rebels I fought against in the late 
war. My health is good, and I feel like a new man, and would not 
sell my place at 50 per cent, advance; and I can say if Northern 
people came down here and attend to their business, they will be 
received with open arms and can do well. E. R. Burr, 

Lynchburg, Va. 
FROM IOWA 

To any person seeking a home away from the long and cold 
winters and the ever existing danger of cyclones in summer, we 
have this to say, conie and see us at South Boston, Virginia. For 
thirty-four years we lived in the State of Iowa, and for the last five 
years in Southside, Virginia. We know that there are many people 
who live in fconstant dread of the cold winters, the deep snow and 
the awful blizzard. These can all be avoided by coming South, 
where one can find a most hospitable people, with many beautiful 
homes and ever ready to give a cordial welcome, and back of all 
this, cheap lands* * * * There are thousands ot acres of tim- 



44 



VIRGINIA 



ber land here that can be bought at from $6 to $10 an acre that 
would furnish grazing for sheep and Angora goats. The Angora 
cleans up the brush and brings the land in condition for more grass 
for the other lines of stock. We have many creeks and springs of 
excellent water, so that one can have living water in all fenced lots. 

W. W. Stockwell, 
SovtJi Boston, Va. 
FROM NEBRASKA. 
I came to \'irginia from Nebraska fourteen years ago with very 
little money and i)urchnsed a very poor farm of 200 acres, for which 




GRAPE GROWING IN VIRGINIA. 

I paid_$5__^per]^acre, making^a small cash payment; then went to 
work. The soil, while worn out, has responded very cpiickly to 
good farming and natural fertilizers. I soon paid for my farm 
and improved it in every form, until now I have it in fine shape, 
and have it well stocked, incluchng improved machinery. Only a 



VIRGINIA 45 

short time since I purchased a second farm of 200 acres for cash. 
I am very much pleased with Virginia and am convinced that it is 
all right. John Skdrig. 

Marmora, Va. 
FROM NEW YORK 

I am a former resident of the Empire State, and came to \\r- 
ginia a number of years since; induced to do so on account of the 
genial climate, geographical location, and the great future which 
I saw in the fertile, neglected farms of Virginia. 1 did not remove 
to my farm until 1898, and have resided here ever since. My 
plantations are now well improved, and last year a crop of 75 acres 
of wheat averaged 29.5 bushels per acre, some of this running in 
excess of 40 bushels per acre. A neighbor of mine raised in excess 
of 100 bushels of soy beans per acre; this by a Canadian farmer, 
who, like myself, does not care to return to the rigorous climate 
^ve left. G. C. Jacoks. 

FROM OHIO 

After living here two years I find A'irginia more ])leasant to live 
in than Ohio. The people are friendly and sociable, and the lithia 
water has been a "God-send" to me. It has cured me of eczema 
after doctoring for thirty years without relief. 

In regard to the land, the best improved here is fully equal to 
Ohio land that sells for S25 to $100 per acre, and if the \'irginia 
land were side by side with it, it would bring the top price and this 
land can be bought for from $5 to $15 per acre. Next the crop. 
Last 3'-ear's wheat was of good (jualit}^ and averaged 15 to 20 
bushels per acre; corn was unusually fine — as good as any one 
could ask, while fruit of all kinds was plentiful. , 

I am glad I came down to this healthful climate, this wonderful 
water, these big-hearted people, and other conditions that go to 
make life worth living. I have no desire to return North. 

Gko. E. Lusk. 
FROM WISCONSIN 

Two years ago I came to Appomattox County from Wisconsin 
and purchased a farm. When 1 arrived 1 was unable to do any 
farm work. Now I can attend to my farm and my health is 
greatly improved. I like the country' so well that last year I 
l)urchased another farm for my son. I would rather live here with 
my present health on one meal a day than in Wisconsin on three. 

I have paid every dollar on both farms, and like the land better 
every^year I live on it. We can raise anything in Virginia that 



VIRGINIA 47 

can be grown in the North or Northwest. I consider this a great 
country, and the lands are far below the real value in price. 

John V. Phillips, Sk., 

Vera, Va. 

THE POSSIBILITIES OF SOIL PRODUCTION 
IN NORFOLK COUNTY 

It is ])oth interesting and wonderful to note the productiveness 
of the soil in the trucking belt around Norfolk, Virginia. A leading 
farmer and trucker this morning said, "Without doubt the truck- 
ing lands around Norfolk, Virginia, are the finest in the entire 
United States. 

This gentleman was entitled to a very respectful hearing, and 
we had the greatest confidence in his judgment and intelligence, 
for his experience, as a trucker, was the very best possible evidence 
in favor of his statement. 

Our attention was called to a little 4-acre patch of land, in snaps 
(beans), now just nicely in the pod and ready to go north in a very 
few days. Answering our ciuestions the owner stated that in 
September last he sowed spinach on said four acres. Between 
Christmas and 1st of ^larch following he cut and sold the spinach 
at the rate of 100 barrels to the acre, at a price ranging from $2 to 
S7 per barrel — an average of $4.50 per barrel. Early in March 
the 4 acres were set out to lettuce, setting the ])lants in the open air 
with no protection whatever, 175.000 plants on the 4 acres. He 
shipped 450 half-barrel baskets of lettuce to the acre, at a price 
ranging from $2 to $2. 75 jier basket. 

Early in April, just before the lettuce was ready to ship, he 
planted snap beans between the lettuce rows; and to day, June 2d, 
these are the finest beans we have seen this season. 

Owner says he will have 150 half-barrel baskets to the acre; 
but we tliink he will surely have nearer 250. However, 150 will 
be enough, for he will sell the same for from $1 up to $2 per basket ; 
perhaps even higher. 

The last week in May he planted cantaloupes between the bean 
rows, which, when marketed in July, will make four crops from 
the same land in one year's time. The cantaloupes will be good 
for 250 crates to the acre, and the price will run from $1 to $1.50 
per crate. 

A careful investigation of these "facts, figures, and features" 
will show that his gross sales will easily reach $2,000 per acre, and 



VIRGINIA 49 

his net profits depend largely upon the man and the management; 
but they surely should not be less than $1,000 clear, clean profit 
to the acre. 

This is for farming done all out doors. No hot house or hot bed 
work — not a bit of it. It is all out-of-doors work, with no extra 
expense for hot beds, cold frames, hot houses, or extra expenses 
whatever. 

We are each day more and more thoroughly convinced that 
"intensive" thorough tillage and care of the soil will not only pay 
remarkably well here; but it will pay better here than at any 
other point or place in the United States. 

Without any doubt, whatever, the soil is the finest market gar- 
den or trucking soil in the entire country. The climate also is 
largely in our favor, as the late and early frosts are kept off by the 
near proximity of the sea. 

In regard to cost to get our farm products to market, we are 
within twenty-five miles of fully 10,000,000 consumers, that is to 
say, measured by freight rates, we are within twenty-five miles of 
10,000,000 hungry consumers of our soil products. 

If measured by hours, we are within twelve hours of 20,000,000 
consumers. Upon the soil, climate, and markets depend the suc- 
cess of the tillers of the soil — and these three factors are decidedly 

in our favor. 

FRUITS 

\'irginia is one of the most highly-favored fruit-growing States 
in the Union. Indeed, when the variety, abundance, and excel- 
lence of its fruits are considered, it is doubtful if any other State 
can compare with it in this respect. Apples, peaches, pears, cher- 
ries, quinces, plums, damsons, and grapes are in great abundance, 
while the smaller fruits such as strawberries, raspberries, black- 
berries, gooseberries and currants are plentiful. The foothills ot 
the Piedmont and Blue Ridge are specially adapted to the apple, 
some orchards producing as much as from $450 to $500 per acre. 
The peach, requiring a somewhat warmer climate, abounds more 
plentifully in Middle Virginia and Tidewater. The eastern slopes 
of the Blue Ridge are especially prolific in grapes, Albemarle 
county taking the lead in their cultivation. They are of excellent 
([uality and flavor, both for table use and wine making. The 
Monticello Wine Company of Charlottesville, Albemarle county, 
enjoys a world-wide reputation for its wine, particularly its clarets. 



VIRGINIA 51 

At the Paris World's Exhibition in 1878, this was the only Amer- 
ican wine that received a medal and diploma; and such was also 
the case at the Paris Exposition of 1889. 

Apples may be said to be the principal fruit crop of the State. 
They are extensively grown, and there is a ^^early increasing num- 
ber of trees planted. In one of the Valley counties a 17-year-old 
orchard of 1,150 trees produced an apple crop in 1905 which 
brought the owner SI 0,000, another of fifty 20-year trees brought 
$700. Mr. H. E. Vandeman, one of the best-known horticultur- 
ists in the country, says that there is not in all North America a 
better place to plant orchards than in Virginia. He says: "For 
rich apple soil, good flavor, and keeping qualities of the fruit, and 
nearness to the great markets of the East and Europe, your coun- 
try is wonderfully favored." 

The trees attain a fine size and live to a good old age, and pro- 
duce most abundantly. In Patrick county there is a tree 9 feet 5 
inches around which has borne 110 bushels of apples at a single 
crop. There are other trees which have borne even more. One 
farmer in Albemarle county has received more than $15,000 for a 
single crop of Albemarle Pippins grown on twenty acres of land. 
This Pippin is considered the most deliciously flavored apple in the 
world. Sixty years ago the Hon. Andrew Stevenson, of Albemarle, 
when minister from this country to England, presented a barrel of 
"Albemarle Pippins" to Queen Victoria, and from that day to this 
it has been the favorite apple in the royal household of Great 
Britain. Although the Blue Ridge and Piedmont sections are 
more particularly adapted to the apple, they are grown in great 
abundance in every part of the State. 

The fig, pomegranate, and other delicate fruits flourish in the 
Tidewater region. 

We have mentioned the cultivated fruits; but in many sections 
there will be found growing wild, in great abundance, the straw- 
berry, the whortleberry, the haw, the persimmon, the plum, the 
blackberry, the dewberry, a fine variety of grapes for jellies and 
for wines, the cherry, the raspberry, and the mulberry, and also 
will be found the chestnut, hazelnut, the walnut, the hickorynut, 
the beechnut, and the chinquepin. 

RIVERS AND WATER SUPPLY 

Five large and navigable rivers, with their affluents and tribu- 
taries, drain five-sixths of the State. These all empty into the 



VIRGINIA 53 

Atlantic, four of them through the Chesapeake Bay, and one 
through Albemarle Sound. The four that empty into the Chesa- 
peake are the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James. The 
one that empties into Albemarle Sound is the Roanoke or Staun- 
ton. These are all navigable to the head of Tidewater by large 
steamboats and sailing vessels. Besides these there are other long 
and copious streams or rivers, the Shenandoah that flows through 
the valley, and New River and Clinch in Southwest Virginia. These 
rivers are all supplied by multitudinous streams: rivulets and 
creeks; many of these long, and of sufficient size to entitle them 
to the name of rivers. Some of these are the Potomac creek and 
Occoquan that flow into the Potomac; the Rapid Anne that is a 
bold affluent of the Rappahannock; the Mattapony and Pamun- 
key that at their confluence form the York; the Chickahominy, 
Appomattox, Rivanna, Willis, Slate, Rockfish, South, North, Cow- 
pasture and Jackson, tributaries, of the James; the Dan, Otter and 
Pig that flow into the Roanoke. These affluents are but a few of 
the hundreds of streams in every part of the State that fall below 
the dimensions o' rivers but which, in conjunction with the bolder 
streams, irrigate the country, furnish inexhaustible water power, 
supply numerous varieties of fish, furnish channels for inland 
navigation, and by enlivening the landscapes, impart a picturesque- 
ness to the scenery on all sides. Never-failing springs of pure, 
sparkling water abound in every section, many of them possessing 
medicinal properties of a high order. The statement is made, upon 
high authority, that no State possesses such an abundant supply 
of mineral waters. The rainfall is abundant and evenly distrib- 
uted, there being two sources of rain-supply, one from the Atlantic 
by the southeast winds and one from the gulf by the winds from 
the southwest. The annual rainfall is 35 inches in the southwest 
and 55 inches on the eastern coast, the average throughout the 
State being about 43 inches. 

From the above statements, it can easily be believed that Vir- 
ginia is one of the most abundantly watered countries upon the 
face of the earth. There can scarcely be found a square mile on 
which there is not either a running stream or a bold spring. There 
is probably no other area ot the world's surface, of equal dimen- 
sions, that is so abundantly and uniformly watered. 



VIRGINIA 55 



WATER POWER 

In this busy age, when every accessory of human industry is 
eagerly utiHzed, it may not be amiss to call more particular atten- 
tion to the marvelous supply of water power which the rivers and 
streams of the State aflford. In this connection we will quote the 
following passage from the paniphlet entitled "Information for 
the Homeseeker and Investor," publislied by this Department 
(the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Immigration), more 
particularly for the purpose of distribution at the recent St. Louis 
Exposition. 

Even in Tidewater, the flattest part of the State, the numerous 
smaller rivers and creeks have sufficient fall to furnish ample 
water power for grist mills and, of course, the same power could 
be used for other purposes. Where Tidewater joins Middle Vir- 
ginia, there i.s a rocky ledge which rises up quite abruptly, and over 
which all streams have to pour to reach the ocean. In pouring 
over that ledge rapids are forme'd which give magnificent water 
power. This water power is especially fine just above Alexandria, 
on the Potomac; at Fredericksburg, on the Rappahannock; at 
Richmond, on the James, and at Petersburg, on the Appomattox. 

To take only one locality as an illustration: 

At Richmond, in a distance of three and one-halt miles, there 
is a fall of 84 feet, and in a distance of nine miles there is a fall of 
118 feet. The other streams mentioned have practically the 
same fall. This enormous water power, occurring just at the head 
of Tidewater and deep water navigation, gives the manufacturer 
who uses this power the benefit of both railwa}^ and water trans- 
portation. As the mountainous region is approached, every river, 
creek and branch is capable of furnishing fine water power. The 
effective fall of the James from Lynchburg to Richmond, a dis- 
tance of 146.5 miles, is 429 feet; between Lynchburg and Buch- 
anan, 50 miles, the effective fall is 299 feet; between Buchanan 
and Covington, a distance of 47 miles, the effective fall is 436 feet. 
"Indeed," as Commodore M. F. Maury says, "the James river 
and its tributaries alone afford water power enough to line their 
banks from Covington and Lexington, with a single row of facto- 
ries, all the way to Richmond." New River also furnishes mag- 
nificent water power. In fact, all through the State an abundance 



56 VIRGINIA 

of the finest water power is awaiting development. A very small 
proportion of this power is at present developed. 

Of the four navigable rivers of Virginia that are tidal to the 
ocean, three of them, the Potomac, Rappahannock, and James, 
take their rise in the mountain region and wind through land- 
scapes of surpassing loveliness to deliver their waters into that Bay 
which, like an inland sea, washes her eastern front. The York, 
a wide, straight stream, navigable for the largest vessels, is less 
than forty miles in length, and is rather an estuary, or arm of the 
Bay, than a river. The Mattapony and Pamunkey, that unite at 
West Point to form the York, drain a considerable portion of Tide- 
water and Middle Virginia. 

The Chesapeake Bay is not only the most picturesque and beau- 
tiful sheet ot water upon the globe but it has no equal for the 
abundance and variety of the marine food which it supplies. It 
is 200 miles long, with an average width of 15 miles. It has the 
most abundant oyster beds in the world, and its Lynnhaven Bay 
oyster is confessedly the largest and most delicious specimen of 
this bivalve to be found in any water. It supplies, in inexhaustive 
quantities, every fish known to the southern waters, with the 
exception of the pampano, which is peculiar to the Gulf of Mexico. 
Turtles, crabs, -terrapins, lobsters and clams abound, while birds 
by tens of thousands, crowd its waters, and the inlets and marshes 
that mark its borders — swans, geese, ducks and sora. The can- 
vass back duck, that feeds on the wild celery and grasses that fringe 
its banks, possesses a game flavor that is coveted by the epicure. 

We have not overdrawn the picture of the attractive invitation 
which Virginia extends to the home-seeker, particularly the one 
who desires to reside in the country and follow the life of a farmer, 
With her diversified surface and varied elevation, her mild climate, 
fine rainfall, well distributed through the year, Virginia, with her 
numerous water courses and streams, and her fertile soil, presents 
an opportunity for all kinds of agricultural pursuits. The home- 
seeker can find an attractive location for any line of cultivation he 
may wish to follow. From the fish and oysters of the bays and 
estuaries, the peanut growing and trucking of the Tidewater, the 
raising of corn, wheat, oats, tobacco, fruits, and stock of the Pied- 
mont, to the blue grass grazing of the more mountainous section, 
he has a varied field of selection. 



VIRGINIA 57 



FORESTS 

The forests of \'irgini:i jiIxjuiuI in an unusual variety of woods, 
especially the valuable hardwoods, so important in modern con- 
struction. In these forests are found every wood known to south- 
ern soils except the noted red cedar of Alabama. Most of the 
uncultivated land consists of woodland tracts. Fine forests and 
(•y|)ress swamps cover vast areas of the Tidewater section. This 
soil favors also the growth ot the cedar, willow, locust, juniper and 
gum. and to some extent the oak — woods that furnish the best 
material for staves, shingles, ship-timber, and sawed lumber. In 
the central and western sections are found the oak, hickory, wal- 
nut, chestnut, birch, beech, maple, poplar, cherry, ash, sycamore 
and elm. In the higher latitudes are found the hemlock, spruce, 
and white ])ine. Oak. pines and poplar are the chief woods for 
l)uilding. The durable hardwoods, oak, hickory, walnut and 
chestnut, are valuable in the manufacture of agricultural imple- 
ments, cars, and furniture. Paper is made from the pulp of the 
soft poplar. Oak bark and sumac leaves are extensively used in 
tanning and dyeing. 

MINERAL RESOURCES OF VIRGINIA 

Virginia presents probably the most promising field for invest- 
ment in its vast resources of almost every known commercial min- 
eral product. Building stone, granite, limestone, slate, soapstone 
mica, clays of all kinds available, from the common red brick to 
the finest pottery-day, coal, coke, iron, lead, zinc, tin, copper, 
manganese, pyrites, arsenic, gypsum, salt, baryta, marble, asbes- 
tos, gold and silver are all found more or less in paying quantities. 

Cheap labor, fuel, timber and water are abundant. Transpor- 
tation facilities are of the best, and climatic conditions are such 
that out-door work can be carried on the year round. 

The mineral lands can be acc^uired at the most reasonable priceS; 
and every facility is offered to induce capital to undertake the 
development of these products. 

No State in the Union produces such a variety of mineral waters 
nor contains such a number of medicinal springs, situated, for the 
most part, in a delightful summer climate in the most beautiful 
scenic parts of the Blue Ridge and Alleghany mountains, offering 
ideal locations for summer and health resorts; some of which are 



VIRGINIA 59 

now world-famous, but the most of them are not utilized on an 
extensive scale. They, however, only lack the necessary capital 
and enterprise to make them ecjually famous with their more fortu- 
nate neighbors. 

Building stones of superior quality are found in a large part of 
the State. Notably from Richmond west to the eastei'n edge of 
the Blue Ridge. Chesterfield and Henrico granites are well known 
outside of the State, having been used in building the postoffices 
of Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pa. 

Buckingham slate is being shipped to England in competition 
with the Scotch and Welsh slate, and orders cannot be filled fast 
enough. This is a guarantee not only of quality but cheapness of 
production. 

Soapstone, of a very fine quality, is produced near Schuyler, in 
Nelson County, and is mostly marketed as a finished product. 

Limestone from the quarries of the Shenandoah Valley and 
southwest is well known. 

Clays, from that used for common brick making to pure kaolin 
for China clay, are found in abundance east of a line running 
tiu'ough Alexandria, Fredericksburg, Richmond, Petersburg and 
Emporia. 

Coal-bearing formations cover an area of about 2,120 square 
miles in the State. The most notable deposits are those of the 
Richmond coal basin. Pocahontas Flat Top Field, Tazewell County, 
the Clinch Valley and Big Stone Gap districts in Wise and Lee 
counties, and the hard coals of Price and Brusli Mountains, Mont- 
gomery county. 

Copper ore is found in Grayson, Carroll, Floyd, Halifax, Char- 
lotte, Prince Edward, Buckingham, Louisa, Fluvanna and Gooch- 
land counties, and in the igneous rocks of the Blue Ridge, notably 
Warren county. The most extensive development has been done 
in Halifax county, where there are a number of mines producing 
ore in paying quantities and showing most excellent prospects for 
extensive development. 

Tin is found in Rockbridge and Nelson. In Rockbridge, at 
least two parallel workable vein systems exist. 

Lead and zinc are found in many parts of the State, notably, 
Wythe, Pulaski, Smyth, (jiles. Bland, Tazewell, Russell, Scott, 
and Grayson counties. The most extensive development is in 



60 



VIRGINIA 



Wythe county, at Austinville, on New River. Work has gone to a 
depth of 200 feet without getting to the bottom of the deposit. 

The U. S. Arsenic Mines Co. have a plant near Ferris Ford in 
Floyd county, for the production of white arsenic from tlieir mines 
at this point. 




o 

o 

o 
o 
o 

o" 

CO 



Asbestos is found in Frankhn, Buckingham, Amelia, Wythe, 
Floyd, Grayson, Bedford, Goochland and Fauquier counties. 



VIRGINIA 61 

Deposits of commercial mica are found in Caroline, Spottsyl- 
vania, Hanover, Goochland, Powhatan, Buckingham, Prince 
Edward, and Amelia counties. 

The iron industry of Virginia is so well known that very little 
need be said about it. The four varieties of ore used in iron man- 
ufacture — magnetite, specular ore, limonite and spathic ore — 
are all found in the iron ore regions of Virginia; the first three in 
great abundance. 

Deposits of manganese ore, including high grade oxides and 
manganiferous iron ore, occur widely distributed through the State, 
particularly along the James River Valley and the Valley of Vir- 
ginia, and have heen extensively developed at several points. 

Of high grade ores, Virginia has for many years supplied the 
greater part of the total output of the United States, the most of 
it coming from the well-known Crimora mines, situated in Augusta 
county, about two miles east of Crimora station, on the Norfolk 
and Western railroad. 

i^yrite is one of the most frequently occurring minerals, and is 
found in the rocks in all parts of the State. It is a constituent of 
the ore of all the gold mines in the Virginia belt below water level 
and it is only when auriferous, or when it occurs comparatively 
pure and in large quantities, that it is commercially valuable. 

The extensive deposits of Louisa county, which are being worked 
by the Sulphur Mines and Railroad Company, and the Arminius 
Copper Company, are of great interest and importance, contribut- 
ing as they do about 150,000 tons annually of high grade pyrites — 
more than half of the total output of the United States. The 
deposits extend in a northeast and southwest direction in the 
vicinit}' of Mineral City, on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, for 
a distance of five miles, and consist of a succession of great lentic- 
ular masses of high-grade pyrite, lying conformably with the strat- 
ification of the enclosing hydromica and talcose slate rocks. In 
extent these deposits can only be compared with those of Norway, 
Spain and Portugal, and they possess the advantage over the 
Eurojican do])osits of being quite free from arsenic. 

CJold is found in two distinct belts, crossing the State in a north- 
easterly and southwesterly direction, the western ore passing 
through Floyd county and the counties to the northeast and south- 
west of it. The eastern belt which, so far as it is at present known, 
is the more important ot the two, begins at the Marylandline about 



\ 'IRG7NIA 63 

14 miles west of Washington City, and extends across the State to 
the North Carolina line, passing through the counties of Fairfax, 
Prince William, Fauquier, Stafford, Culjjeper, Spottsylvania, 
Orange, Louisa, Fluvanna, Goochland, Buckingham, Cumberland, 
Appomattox, Campbell, Pittsylvania, and a portion of Halifax. 

In most of these counties mining for gold was successfully car- 
ried on previous to the war, but since that time little or no intelli- 
gent work has been done. Many attempts have been made on a 
small scale with inexperienced management and insufficient capi- 
tal and, for the most part, failure has been caused by putting all 
available funds into a mill to treat the ore, while in no case has 
sufficient development work been done to warrant this expendi- 
ture. 

There is no doubt that were this belt worked with capital and 
experience, such as is employed in gold mining sections in the west 
(very few of which can show such well-defined and continuous 
veins), results would compare favorably. 

It is a matter of jNlint record that the mines in the State have 
produced from shallow workings (from 40 to 65 feet deep) several 
millions of dollars, and that with the crudest of mills. It is also 
a known fact that sulphide ores exist in the bottoms of some of 
these workings of payable value. Modern appliances, capital 
and enterpirse is all that is necessary to develop the belt into a 
marked feature in the production oi gold in this country. 

COMMERCIAL FACILITIES 

In respect to ready access to markets for the products of her soil, 
ot her foundries and factories, and of her inexhaustible beds of 
coal and iron, as well as in respect to facility of purchase from the 
markets of the world without, Virginia is most favorably circum- 
stanced. Five trunk lines of railroads penetrate and intersect 
the State. These, with their numerous branch lines, and their 
connections with other roads, place every portion of the State 
in communication with every principal port and city in the coun- 
try. The lines of steamboats that ply the navigable streams of 
eastern Virginia afford commercial communication for large sec- 
tions of the State with the markets of this country and of Europe. 
At Norfolk and Newport News are ports that maintain communi- 
cation with the European markets by means of sea-going steamers 
and vessels, while from these ports is also kept up an extensive 
commerce along the Atlantic seaboard. The harbor of Hampton 



VIRGINIA 65 

Roads, upon which these ports sit hke crowned queens of com- 
merce, is the largest, deepest and safest upon the whole Atlantic 
coast. Upon its bosom the combined navies and commercial 
marine of the world can ride in safety, and with ample berth. As 
has been before stated, these ports are nearer than is New York to 
the great centers of population, and areas ot production, of the 
west and northwest. Chicago is nearer by fifty miles, in a direct 
line, to Norfolk than it is to New York. The harbor on the south- 
ern coast of England, between the Isle of Wight and the mainland, 
has been named, from its safety, the " King's Chamber." Hamp- 
ton Roads, sheltered by the Virginia capes from the storms of the 
Atlantic, may well be regarded as our King's Chamber. 

NATURAL WONDERS 

Many of the most marvelous natural wonders of the world are 
found in Virginia. The most widely known of these is the Natural 
Bridge, in Rockbridge county, 14 miles from Lexington. It is a 
stupendoi.o bridge of rock, and from it the county (Rockbridge 
received its name. It is 215 feet and 6 inches from the creek below 
to the top of the span or arch above. The arch is 90 feet in length, 
40 feet thick, and 60 feet wide; and across, there runs a public 
county road. On either side of this road there are trees and bushes, 
so that travelers frequently pass over the stupendous chasm with- 
out being aware of its presence. This bridge is part of the root 
of an ancient limestone cave. 

In the limestone section of the State there are numerous caves. 
The most noted of these are Weyer's Cave in Augusta county and 
the Luray Caverns in Page county. There are in both of these, 
numerous halls, chambers and grottoes, brilliant with stalactites 
and stalagmites, and adorned with other forms curiously wrought 
by the slow dripping of water through the centuries. 

Crab Tree Falls near the summit of the Blue Ridge, in Nelson 
county, are formed by a branch of Tye river. They consist of 
three falls, the longest of these leaps of the stream being 500 feet. 
This freak of nature, and the unsurpassed mountain scenery of 
the surrounding region, attract many tourists. The Balcony 
Falls, immediateh' where Rockbridge, Amherst and Bedford 
counties corner, the passage where the James river cuts its way 
through the Blue Ridge, presents a scene of grandeur, little, if any, 
inferior to the passage of the Potomac at Harper's Ferry through 
the same range of mountains. 



66 VIRGINIA 

Mountain Lake, in Giles county, is a beautiful botly of deep 
water, some 3,500 feet above the sea level. The water is so trans- 
parent that the bottom can be seen in every part. Pleasure boats 
sailing u]ion it pass above the trunks and tops of large trees that 
are plainly seen. This would indicate that the lake is not of very 
great antiquity. Mountain Lake is a great summer resort. 

The Dismal Swamp may pro])erly be accounted a natural won- 
der. It is an extensive region lying mostly in Virginia, but partly 
in North Carolina, and covered with dense forests of cypress, juni- 
per, cedar and gum. It is a remote, weird region, inhabited by 
many wild animals. Its silence is broken by resounding echoes of 
the woodman's axe in hewing its trees that are oi great value for 
the manufacture of buckets, tubs, and other varieties oi wooden 
ware, and for shingles, staves and ship-timber. In the middle of 
the swamp is Lake Drummond (lying entirely on the \'irginia side), 
a round body of water, six miles in diameter, being the largest 
lake in the State. It is noted for the purity of its amber-colored 
water, the hue being derived from the roots of cypress and juniper. 
This water will remain for years without becoming stale or stag- 
nant, and is used by ships and vessels going on long sea voyages. 

EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES 

In the pamphlet heretofore referred to as prepared by the Agri- 
cultural Department for distribution at the St. Louis Exposition, 
there is an accurate account of the educational advantages of Vir- 
ginia which is here transferred to this handbook: 

Virginia has, from early colonial days, been a leader in eckica- 
tional matters. While the system of African slavery and the long 
distances between the great plantations prevented the develop- 
ment of a pubhc school system like that in the New England colo- 
nies, yet some of the first free schools on the continent were in 
Virginia. William and Mary College, next to Harvard, the oldest 
in America, was founded in the latter part of the seventeenth 
century, and sent out from her walls fifteen United States Sena- 
tors, seventy members of the Federal House of Representatives, 
seventeen Governors, thirty-seven Judges, three Presidents — 
Jefferson, Monroe, and Tyler — and the great Chief Justice John 
Marshall. Excellent private schools abounded in Virginia prior 
to the Revolution; but Mr. Jefferson, who believed that in a de- 
mocracy all the people should be educated, introduced into the 
General Assembly, while the Revolutionary War was going on, a 
bill for the establishment of a complete system of public instruc- 



VIRGINIA 67 

tion from the primary school to the university. The bill failed to 
heeome a law, but in 1797, that portion of .Jefferson's bill providino; 
for jirimary schools was enacted into a law. l)ut the execution was, 
unfortunately, left with the old County Court, which failed to 
carry the law into operation. Mr. Jefferson lived to see the State 
University opened, in 1S25, but his chief concern to the day of his 
death wat the estal)lishnient of a system of jirimary ])ublic schools 
in which the children of all the peojile could be etlucated. 

The General Assembly enacted a public school law in 1846. leav- 
ing]: it optional with counties and cities to adopt it. AVhen the 
war of secession came on, this system had been ado])ted in a num- 
ber of counties and cities, but it was wiped out by the devastating 
waves of Civil War. The Convention of 1867 framed a Consti- 
tution that provided for a sj^stem of public free schools for every 
city and county of the State, and the General Assembly put the 
system ijUo ojieration in 1870, four years before the Constitution 
required it. 

The development of the pul)lic school system since its inaugu- 
ration has been steady and ]:)rogrcssive. During the last school 
year 9.06.5 schools were opened; 385,640 pupils were enrolled in 
them; the value of school property owned by districts was $4,- 
2.50 000, and total amoimt spent for public schools was $2,667,- 
167.24. 

The pcojjle of \'irginia are manifesting great interest in the 
movement for better schools. Associations for the im])rovement of 
the schools have been formed in ever}' section of the State, and 
educators are constantly delivering addresses to interested audi- 
ences on the value of education and the importance of increasing 
the efficiency of our public school system. The Co-operative 
Kducation Commission, organized about one year ago, and com- 
posed of many of the leading citizens of \'irginia, is doing effective 
work in arousing public sentiment throughout the State in favor of 
better public schools, and in every neighborhood the educational 
advantages are being enlarged. 

The State Constitution, ordained in 1902. contains liberal pro- 
visions for public education, under the operation of which the 
local revenues for school i5ur])Oses will he largely increased. The 
demand is going up from every section for better school houses, 
better teachers, and longer school terms. In addition to the pri- 
mary and grannnar schools all the cities and towns, and many of 
the rural districts, have excellent public high schools. 



VIRGINIA 69 

The State Female Normal School at Farmville and the State 
Male Normal School at William and Mary College afford excellent 
preparation for the work of teaching in the public schools. The 
Virginia Polytechnic Institute at Blacksburg and the University 
of \'irginia at Charlottesville are among the foremost institutions 
of the kind in this country. The Virginia Military Institution at 
Le.xington, also a State institution, affords excellent instruction 
in military science, being second only to the United States Military 
Academy at West Point. 

At William and Mary the Virginia students get the tuition free. 

At the University of Virginia the academical students (but not 
the professional) from Virginia receive their tuition free. At the 
Virginia Polytechnic Institute 400 students may receive free tui- 
tion, that is four for each member of the House of Delegates. 

At the Virginia Military Institute there may be fifty cadets who 
receive board and tuition free, one from each senatorial district 
and ten from the State at large. 

At the State Female Normal School there may be one student 
trom each county and city in the State who shall receive tuition free. 

In addition to these State institutions of higher learning, there 
are many excellent denominational colleges for both sexes in Vir- 
ginia at which students can obtain an education in the higher 
branches at comparatively a small cost. ]\Iention should also be 
made of the private academies and high schools which may be 
found in every section of the State. 

It will thus be seen that Virginia has a complete system of pub- 
lic instruction, extending from the primary grades to the univer- 
sity and the technical schools, and many private high schools, 
academies, and colleges. 

Industrial training has been introduced into the public schools 
of some of the cities and towns, and the State Board of Education 
has just made provision for introducing instruction in agriculture 
into the rural public schools. 

The Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind at Staunton is 
one of the most efficient of its kind in the country. 

Virginia maintains an efficient system of public schools for col- 
ored children, and the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Insti- 
tute and the Mrginia Normal and Industrial Institute at Farm- 
ville, both State institutions, afford unsurpassed facilities for prac- 
tical education. 



VIRGINIA 



71 



VIRGINIA AGRICULTURE IN THE LAST CENSUS 

The following itiius of interest are taken from the last census, 
!<)()(), the crojjs rei)orte(l Ix'ing those grown in 1899: 




SUM.MKK APPLES IX VIRGINIA. 

Virginia increased in the value of vegetables produced in the last 
ten years 491 per cent. The value of all kinds of vegetables pro- 
duced in the year 1899 was .19,000,000. The value of all crops was 
§o4,9:J0.()00. Average value per , acre of vegetables. $47.63. 
Average value for all crops, $12.06, as compared with States like 
Ohio, whose average value per acre for all crops was $12.59; of 
vegetables. $44.97. Pennsylvania's average value per acre for all 
crops was $13 .86; of vegetables, $51 . 00. 

The average value per acre of corn last year in Mrginia was 
$11.55; in Indiana, $11 .59; in Iowa, $10.64. 



<o 



bl90/ 



72 



VIRGINIA 



In wheat, the average vakie in Virginia was $7.31 per acre; in 
Indiana, $7.80, and in Iowa, $7.69 per acre. 

The average vakie per acre in potatoes in \'irginia was $53.76; 
in Michigan, $50. 16; in Ohio, $50.63 per icre. 

In hay, the average vahie per acre in Virginia was $17.85; in 
Indiana, $12.58; in Ilhnois, $14.70 per acre. (United States 
agricultural report, 1903.) 

Virginia is now the richest State in the South except Texas. 
Her agricultural products sold last year for one hundred and two 
million dollars. 

Virginia ranks first in the United States as producer of kale and 
spinach. She ranks second in the production of cabbage, and 
third in tobacco, and is the largest peanut-producing State. 

Virginia ranks eighth in the number of apple trees growing. 

In the following table is given a list of those counties in the State 
growing more than 100,000 apple trees: 





Apple 


Peach 


Pear 


Albemarle 


505,000 
344,000 
266,000 
275,000 
229,000 
220,000 
210,000 
200,000 
192,000 
196,000 
193,000 
191,000 
181,000 
183,000 
172,500 
151,000 
140,000 
139,000 
132,000 
132,000 
124,000 
118,000 


110,000 : 
48,000 
50,000 
10,000 
48,000 
16,000 
66,000 
34,000 

160,000 

30,000 

7,500 

105,000 

54,000 

68,000 

70,000 

23,000 

31,000 

20,000 , 

4,000 i 

9,500 

5,300 

93,000 


9,800 


Augusta 

Bedford 


8,800 
3,300 


Patri<"k 


950 


Rockingham 


6,500 


Nelson. 


950 


Franklin 


1,800 


Rappahannock 


4,000 


Frederick 


1,000 


Flovd 


10,000 


Carroll 


660 


Botetourt ; . . . 


5,500 


Roanoke 


5,000 


Pittsylvania 


5,500 


Shenandoah 


5,500 


Washington 


1,600 


Rockbridge 


4,2tT0 


Amhei'st . 


.3,100 


Scott 


980 




1,200 


Madison 


1,100 


Fairfax 


27,000 



Crop of 1899 produced 10,000,000 bushels apples and 8,000,000 
bushels peaches. 

Sales of animal products year 1899: Wool, $409,600; milk, butter 
and cheese, $7,000,000; poultry, $6,681,553. Increase in live stock 
during the last ten years: Dairy cows, 8,242 head; neat cattle, 70,000 
head; horses, 50,000 head; mules, 10,000 head; swine, 50,000 head. 

For further information about Virginia write to the Commis- 
sioner of Agriculture and Immigration, Richmond^ Va. 



I h My '09 







INFORMATION 

FOR THE HOMESEEKER 

AND INVESTOR. 



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PUBLISHED BV THE 
CTATR nnADH np AnDlcni TIIRR AND IMMIQRATION 



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